Ex-CIA Official Becomes Enraged at Pro-Trump Panelist, Tries to Kick Him Off Show
A former CIA official became so enraged at a pro-Trump panelist on a CNN show he tried to kick him off of the set of the program.
Phil Mudd, who served as a top official of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center and the deputy director of the FBI’s National Security Branch, and conservative commentator Paris Dennard were debating whether John Brennan, the former CIA director, ought to have had his security clearance revoked.
Dennard supported President Donald Trump’s decision to strip Brennan of his clearance, according to The Daily Caller.
“A lot of these people that have these security clearances, and this is the secret in swampy Washington, D.C., they have them and they keep them because it’s profitable for them after they leave government,” Dennard told the show’s host, CNN national security correspondent Jim Sciutto.
“Because if you have a security clearance, especially high level security clearances, your contracts and your consulting gig pay you a lot more money because of the access that you have.”
Mudd tried to hit back: He said his security clearance allows him to participate in an advisory board that helps the government — parcipation for which he is not paid at all.
Dennard, however, responded that the issue wasn’t the money such clearances meant from the government. It was how much they were worth to the men and women who hold them when they market their services in the private sector as consultants and contractors.
“Well, I will be clear in saying that everybody in Washington, D.C., knows if you don’t want to be honest about it, that’s on you, but if you have a security clearance and you keep it, you get more money to have it,” Dennard responded.
That didn’t sit well with Mudd.
“We’re done. We’re done. Get out!” an angry Mudd yelled.
There was just one little problem in that statement, however — something the other guest pointed out.
“It’s not your show,” Dennard said.
“I’m staying right here. Don’t be so defensive about this. Don’t be so defensive about this. Your voice is still here. You can still do whatever you want. But the politicalization (sic) of the intelligence community under this administration with the people coming on here every day,” he noted.
So that ended well, I thought.
Dennard clearly got the better of the exchange. Washington is a deeply insular town, one where having a gig at any government agency entitles you to a lifetime of private sector jobs, particularly if you can claim to have connections or security clearance.
Mudd’s security clearance, whether he admits it or not, is worth a lot of money to him. It was to John Brennan, too — and he used it to lend gravitas to his televised rants. There’s no particularly good reason for him to have it, and we’re much better off now that he doesn’t.
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